Rugrat,
Have you ever posted a video of your son? Would be great to see him reading. Watching babies how they read is so adorable
m

Please check my blog http://earlylearning-eaton.blogspot.com/ in few days. I will be posting everything I did with my baby. How I started, what books I created, how I was showing them, what programs I was using to teach reading.

For now I will say that I started when Eaton was about 2-3 months-simple word flaschards. Then, I introduce BrillKids about 7 months. I used curriculum 1 with Eaton. I didn't care so much about couplets as I didn't have time to create them. I thought that skipping that stage will not harm anyone. I moved straight to simple sentences instead and simple books.

Chanze318,
 Of  course 15 months is not too late to start teaching the baby to read. This is perfect age and don't be discourage if someone started to earlier. Your grandson can do it in no time.

One thing I would add is that: Please introduce alphabet through the sound (phonic) first then teach the baby name of the alphabet. Baby will start reading by himself/herself earlier if they will be taught phonics first.

tammtamm21,
I didn't introduce EC yet to Eaton. If you think that baby is bored with single words introduce simple sentences. I didn't see any complication in experience with Eaton when we skipped the stage of couplets. But that would be ideal  Doman way of teaching reading.

Thanks all

tammtamm21,

My baby is naked most of the time because we live in Hawaii and it's hot in the house. Beside that, we potty train him and he doesn't like wearing diapers anymore

I started to create books when Eaton was about 10-11 months. At the beginning I created A4 books, about 10 of them. After that I switched to 5"x 7". The reason is that I use a laminating machine and they have only these 2 sizes of laminating pouches in Hawaii. I switched to smaller sizes about few months after introducing A4 books because Eaton was reading smaller font already. But, like you see he still loves these big books.

If you want to create more books and you don't know where to start you can download a lot of ppt.format Power Point) presentations and edit it to Doman format. Meaning one sentence on one page and pictures on the other. BrillKids has a lot of ppt and you can have bunch of books with different topics. Or you can Google "free kids power point presentations" to find more.

But babies likes personalized books about stuff they see around the house.

I hope that help.

By the way someone just pointed to me that there is a mistake in a tomato word! I'm still learning my spelling (English is my second language;-)

Few days ago Eaton grabbed a book I created for him when he was born. This book is about our garden. When Eaton was reading he missed few pages with sentences but this is the idea what Eaton is doing at this point in his live. Just want to share.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/kBRE0ZBs7TY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/kBRE0ZBs7TY&rel=1</a>

Thank you all!!

Sunmoonstar23, this is what I'm using to laminate my flashcards. This is scotch TL 901 laminator I bought for 35$in Walmart. It's doing great job. Pouches can be a little expensive, but you can buy 5"x7". They are more affordable than A4 and a child responds very good to that size too. I don't see a difference in my baby when I show him small flashcards at this point in life (he is 19 months).

I just created a little blog where I want to post most activities I'm doing with my baby Eaton. I just posted my first post so please be patient as I have a lot interesting stuff to show later.
http://earlylearning-eaton.blogspot.com/2010/07/activities-for-19-months-old-baby-eaton.html

Thanks for stopping by.

I still breastfeed my 18 months old baby. 3 weeks ago I discovered I'm pregnant again. Lately, when I feed my baby I feel some sharp pain in my nipples. First, I thought that my baby could bite me, but then it happens each time now. It's not strong sharp pain but it's a little uncomfortable. I feel like something is pulling my nipples.

Anyone experience something like that? I'm going to a doctor soon so I will get some advice there. But I wanted to know if this is something normal and other mom had experience that.

marta

               

               Date Uploaded: June 30, 2010
               Name:   Eaton (child) and Marta (mother)
               Filename: (LR Video) – Little Reader and Eaton at 18 months.avi

My son has benefited tremendously from using BrillKids. With only a few minutes each day, the amount of knowledge that he obtains is amazing. By using the flash card and voice over system, he learns new words, phonics and definitions, increasing his understanding and intelligence. More importantly, he enjoys the process of learning and looks forward to it each day. He often climbs on my lap while I am at my computer, asking for more flash cards.

Using the built in curriculum, my son is able to pick up new words and sounds along with the ability to read. I started my son on the BrillKids program at 3 months and he is now able to read at 18 months. The program works great for me as a bilingual mother. I can prepare lessons in English and in other languages. I can even prepare lessons in languages I do not speak or read and my son will be able to learn them.

The BrillKids forum and community is also amazing. I have been able to use lessons that other moms have created, saving me time and broadening my son's horizons. Many of the lessons I would never have been able to prepare myself. I can always find great conversations and information in the forum, along with parents willing to answer any questions or concerns I have.

I would not hesitate to recommend BrillKids to any parent that asked me. It is a tool that can help our children have the best start possible and the brightest future available.

Marta

I just want to share this video with you. I was showing inventors cards about a month ago to my baby. Today I wanted to check his knowledge and he passed a test !!:-)

Eaton was better then me, I needed to check few times correct names on the back ( and I still make mistake ).


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/sApcQMmmUDc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/sApcQMmmUDc&rel=1</a>

I'm looking for people from Hawaii Big Island who are interested in meeting, exchange ideas etc..

Dolch Sight Words are good for young babies because there is nothing more than showing flashcards. There is a good music and my baby likes it. But I also read review at Amazon of certain mam who bought that video for her 3 years old kid and he was not interested in watching it. Babies have absorbant mind without asking why? Older kids understand more and they want some story  in the movie. But of course I generalize over here and each baby is different. But it's a great extra tool to teach a baby sight words.


I wanted to share another reading idea I found REALLY works for my baby.
Word mats.
http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/cll/keywords/mats.html  I printed out a page with 200 words and laminated. The mat is always at the table under Eaton's plate. He always point to some words and say it at loud. I've created many of these kind of mats. Some I bought with shapes or presidents of US.
But the word mat is the best!!!

2010 Bebes,
Yeah, it is good idea, I will keep these videos until he is older. Someone told me that they are for 4 or 5 years old kids.

http://www.childcareland.com/videos.html  this website has tons of free stuff and the matching activity I suggested is one of them !

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HF_bWH0Ksgs&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HF_bWH0Ksgs&rel=1</a>  Here is a video of Eaton. Honestly, I showed Eaton flashcards only 3 times and he was able to put all names on the map correctly in a row. Sometimes I think that I'm too slow with teaching my baby. He absorb everything so fast I"m really amazed.

Probably Africa map or Europe will be more challenge for him